MIAMI, Fla. – WKU men's basketball overcame a 13-point halftime deficit on Saturday night at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center, but fell 85-83 on a late jumper by FIU. The Hilltoppers are now 19-10 overall and 8-7 in Conference USA.
Babacar Faye led five Hilltoppers in double figures with 14 on the night. Tyrone Marshall had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Enoch Kalambay added nine points and seven rebounds in the loss.
WKU trailed 44-31 at halftime, as the Tops shot just 39% from the field and 1-of-5 from the free throw line in the first half.
FIU's lead grew to 16 early in the second half, as WKU trailed 51-35 with 17:08 to play. The Hilltoppers caused nine FIU turnovers in the second half and shot 53% from the field, taking 10 more shots than the Panthers in the final 20 minutes to spark the comeback.
After trailing by 16, the Tops went on a quick 10-0 run over the next two minutes and 29 seconds to close the deficit to just six with 14:39 to play.
Faye got the run started with a layup, followed by a putback from Kalambay and then a steal and dunk from Don McHenry. After a defensive stop, Faye cashed in on back-to-back layups to close the gap to just six – the closest the game had been since the 5:36 mark in the first half.
The Panthers scored 10 of the next 15 to increase the lead to 61-50 with 12:29 to play before the Hilltoppers rattled off nine straight to make it 61-59 with 10:15 to play. A second half of runs continued as FIU then scored the next eight to push the lead back to nine, 69-60, with 8:03 to play.
A steal and three-point basket by Dontaie Allen capped off a 10-1 Hilltopper run to tie the game, 70-70, with 5:56 to play.
WKU took its first lead of the game, 71-70, on a Faye layup with 4:58 to play and led by three with 3:41 to play. A back-and-forth affair down the stretch saw three lead changes and a pair of ties in the final three minutes of action.
The Tops led by four, 82-78, with 1:40 left after an Allen three pointer, but FIU scored the next five to retake the lead. Faye split a pair of free throws with 36 seconds left to tie the game, 83-83.
With 13 seconds left, FIU's Javaunte Hawkins missed a layup and the ball went out of bounds. The initial call on the court was that it had been off WKU, and after a lengthy, multi-minute review, the call on the court was upheld with 13.8 seconds left in the game and seven on the Panthers' shot clock. After a timeout, FIU's Hawkins made an off-balance jumper from the top of the key as the shot clock expired to give the Panthers an 85-83 lead.
WKU's three pointer as time expired was off and the Panthers escaped with the victory on Saturday night.
The Tops close out regular season action at Liberty on March 9 at noon CT.
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